1995-07-07 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- Likening the battle over admission to the University of California to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Jesse Jackson vowed yesterday to disrupt a crucial meeting in San Francisco in two weeks should the University of California regents approve a controversial plan abolishing affirmative action at the university.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Jackson said he and supporters in California are willing to go to jail to defend what he said are the rights of minority students and others to have access to a public education.

"We are going to the regents' meeting fully prepared to go to jail," said Jackson. "We are willing to offer our bodies in living sacrifices and accept the consequences of exposing the hate and hurt of this rollback in civil rights."

Jackson's comments came one day after Ward Connerly, the only African American on the board of regents, revealed a far-reaching

plan that would end virtually all UC race-based programs in admissions, hiring and contracts. Even before Jackson spoke, Connerly's plan had already generated enormous national attention.

Jackson also lashed out at Connerly and other African Americans, such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who have taken the lead in attempts to undo or modify affirmative action programs, calling them "collaborators" who have benefited from their minority status.

Connerly immediately condemned Jackson's promise to engage in civil disobedience as "totally irresponsible" and a ploy to bolster a possible presidential bid. "If that is what he wants, I say, let's accommodate him, throw him in jail, and throw away the key," he said.

He said civil disobedience could backfire on Jackson and cause more regents to vote to abolish race preferences.

"Jesse Jackson should add a couple of votes to my side of the ledger," he said. "I am almost ready to pay for his air fare."

Jackson, who is president of the National Rainbow Coalition, declined to say exactly what actions he, along with the Rev. Amos Brown Jr. of San Francisco, pastor of the Third Baptist Church, and members of the Bay Area chapter of the Rainbow Coalition, plan to initiate.

He did say that on July 19, the day before the regents meet to vote on the matter, there will be a statewide gathering of ministers, educators and other supporters at the Third Baptist Church.

"We are still contemplating what actions we should take," said Eddie Wong, western regional director of the Rainbow Coalition. "But we will not let that motion (Connerly's) pass without a protest."

Hundreds of media representatives from around the country are expected to attend the regents' meeting, which in light of Jackson's comments could be even more tumultuous than expected. University representatives declined yesterday to say what security measures will be in place.

In his interview, Jackson said admissions to the University of California touches at the heart of the civil rights cause.

"So much of our struggle revolves around how youth are treated," he said. "It goes to the very nerve of our hope and our future."

"California is the battleground in the quest for social justice in the 1990s, just as Alabama and Mississippi was in the 1960s," he said. "We must fight for the education of our youth, rather than for the incarceration of our children."

Connerly rejected Jackson's comparison of California to Southern states three decades ago: "How can anyone in their right mind equate California to Alabama and Mississippi in the 1960s?"

"We are not rolling back civil rights, because anti-discrimination laws are still in place." He insisted that in place of race preferences, the University of California would strengthen its "outreach efforts" to members of minority groups.

The opposite views of Connerly and Jackson, who have never met, underscore the deep schisms that exist between supporters of affirmative action and African Americans who are now at the forefront of a national drive to undo such programs.

Jackson said that Connerly, who was appointed to the board by Governor Wilson, is a regent because of affirmative action and that he has benefited from affirmative action programs in receiving several state contracts. Justice Thomas, too, he said was appointed to the court because of his minority status.

"One cannot allow those who bite the hand that fed them to be the moral authorities on this issue," Jackson said. "Those who have benefited, then turn on those who were their benefactors, the sources of their help. That is what betrayal is."

The fact that Connerly is black has helped strengthen the forces against affirmative action, he said, just as Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, whom Jackson described as a "collaborator on apartheid," delayed the end of racial rule in South Africa.

Connerly called Jackson "the preacher of doom, using the same old cliches, the rhetoric of the 1960s."

"The idea that I am betraying my people, this concept that every black has to think black, are the very stereotypes we have been trying to do away with," Connerly said.

He said that "people like Mr. Jackson have no cause for existence if it were not for what we are doing here. If there were ever equality in the 1990s, we would put him out of business."